Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Over on another forum (not food-related, so it's not T.O.B.B) there's a current thread about contamination in ground beef and a recent recall. Some posters are pointing out the benefits of having a KA grinder attachment to make one's own hamburger to avoid the stuff that gets into commercial ground beef and the ammonia that's added to couteract the other stuff.

One of the more prolific posters offers this I've observed that it's not food, and it's a symptom that Food, Inc. can't keep our food clean.

I guess others don't particularly care about things like that...

Might be fine but I think I will keep getting my beef ground right before my very eyes. I don't think they do anything like that here but most of the ground beef on the shelf is vacuum packed now. The beef from the butchers case is ground in-store everyday and they tell you to use it by the next day or to freeze it.

Thinking about ammonia though... doesn't it make your ground beef smell like pee?

Mary

From what I read about that whole debacle, the amount of ammonia was high enough that it left an aftertaste, so they reduced the amount, and that's when they started getting higher E.coli readings. And I don't agree that ALL of it will outgas - there will always be trace amounts.

To me, the "big deal" isn't about what they use to kill all the buggies, it's that they use parts of meat that are highly contaminated and parts not fit to feed to a dog, and try to fob it off as hamburger. YET PEOPLE LINE UP TO BUY IT. I agree that "Food, Inc." can't keep us safe, but that's what you get when you succumb to the Walmart shopping mentality of "always lower prices." I blame the American consumer as much as I blame Cargill or Conagra for the crap that passes for food littering the shelves of grocery stores.

Maybe I need to go get some chocolate or something - I'm quite crabby today.

Couldn't have said it better myself...I corrected mt dear wife last week...she was observing that it was hard to find "High Quality" craftsmen anymore...I corrected her that that simply was not the case...what is hard to find is a consumer that is willing to pay for it!! The very best customer I have is the Federal Government...they expect the very best..and pay top $$ for what they get...of course it's not like they are spending their own money..

Well put, Frank, esp. the part about them not spending their own money! But with food, you can save a lot of money doing things, such as grinding yourself (with a one time purchase of a grinder), and ending up with better products, and with little training, as you would need in woodworking, FI, if you suddenly got the urge for a new dining room set. But, simply put, people as a rule are lazy. They would rather eat beef with ammonia in it, and all those other foods Darcie makes note of.

Dave

Something seems very wrong with the mindset of putting ammonia in food rather than keeping fecal matter out...

I agree...yuck!

What's also wrong with it is that the USDA was so impressed with the techinque, on paper, that they didn't bother to inspect any of the actual meat. Which then poisoned people.

One of the serious issues of the last 3 decades has been the decline of federal regulating bodies to the point where they are completely ineffective in preventing large-scale abuses, and spend all of their time harassing niche industries instead. Your Tax Dollars Not At Work.